Description

The route is the seam-system on the glassy North face on the main rock at Supremacy. It is low angle, but requires good face and slab technique alike. The climb goes up the centermost crack system and left and right lie harder variations that eventaully all join and move up and left to the 5.7 arete.

Protection

There some pro, primarily small stoppers, but the crack is flaring and discontinuous. You can work in one or two good ones on the main slab, then more as the climbing joins the North arete to the left. On the otherhand, it is possible to set a TR with a ton of webbing and gear, although a TR fall results in a big swing, potentially into the tree behind the route.

TRed this one yesterday. TR anchors possible with about 40' of webbing slung around one of the boulders in the gully to the east and a couple cams on the small ledge at near the top of the NE arette. Somewhat contrived, but solid. Anchor ends up directly over the large tree at the base of the wall and is okay for either side of the slab (either left or right of the tree, that is).

The climb is pretty sustained with lots of small, shallow handholds along steep cracks and feet in the occasional patches of roughness and small divots. The rock texture elsewhere is like polished steel and smearing is, if not impossible, not a reliable method of upward movement. As with all such climbs, my height probably helped and made it easier than it could be for someone less than six feet.

Fun toprope. You can set a gear anchor by scrambling up the left side, traversing to a ledge on the northeast arete, and finding some low cracks. As a 9+ I was expecting it to be a little bit harder than it seemed.

Very cool rock, very different from anything else in Boulder. The quartzite is like climbing polished glass with sharp edged cracks for holds. Definitely worth it as a change of pace. The face is low-angled and delicate, balancy climbing. Best done as a TR.

Memory lane: I was the first person to do an unprotected lead of Supremacy Slab back in the summer of 1961. Bob Boucher and I had just attempted the Yellow Spur, but we were both off our form that day, so we bailed out and vowed to return on a better day. On the hike out, we passed the Slab, and I said to Bob, "This hasn't ever been free climbed, has it?" "Want to redeem yourself?" he chuckled. "Why not?" I replied, and so said, so done. What a rush that was!